


Short 12 - A Little Comfort

by stgjr



Series: "The Power of a Name" Series 2 - "Time Lord Triumphant" [3]
Category: BattleTech: MechWarrior, Doctor Who, Frozen (2013), Multi-Fandom
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 10:02:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10384185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stgjr/pseuds/stgjr
Summary: This was originally posted on April 30th, 2014.





	

**Short 12 - A Little Comfort**  
  
Every once and a while, I would keep up my practice of visiting Princess Katherine, continuing my plan to nudge her future away from the terrible figure she would otherwise become.  
  
I had attended her seventh birthday party as was my usual course, but the sour note of the War of 3039 and the declining, terminal condition of her grandmother Katrina had dampened the festivities. Knowing Katrina’s time would come soon, I returned quickly to the aftermath of her passing.  
  
Katherine was in her room, wearing a plain light blue dress and blouse, staring outside the window. The _mycosia_ I had given her two years prior, in her timeline anyway, was standing up to the Tharkad cold as I promised it could. I looked at her guard and took a step in. "Hello, Katherine."  
  
When she looked up at me, it was with red, teary eyes. "They buried my grandmother," she said quietly.  
  
"I see." I knelt down beside her. "I’m sorry."  
  
She put her arms around my shoulders and cried softly. As she did so, I found myself considering that I was actually succeeding. In the original timeline, Katherine had tried to color her hair red to look like Natasha Kerensky, wanting to be the center of attention; fueling that desire for praise and worship that would eventually flower into megalomania.  
  
Her hair had no such color here. It was its usual fine blond tone. And I could sense her deep, real grief.  
  
In short… Katherine was being a good girl. And I’d made her a promise on that account.  
  
I looked to the bodyguard at the doorway. "Can you see if Archon Melissa has the time to visit us? Let her know I’m here."  
  
He nodded. Many of the guards here knew me by now, and my friendliness with the rulers. He made the call over the radio.  
  
When Melissa came, I could see she had been crying as well. Not in public, of course; royalty doesn’t do that. But in private… of course she had.  
  
I executed a respectful bow. "Your Highness. My condolences for your loss."  
  
"Thank you," she replied simply. "You wished to see me?"  
  
"Yes…. I wanted to make a request and an offer." I patted Katherine on the head. "A brief excursion from this grief-stricken palace may be for the best."  
  
"You mean you wish to take us somewhere in that device of your’s."  
  
"Yes. Not for long, but to give you some time away from all of… this."  
  
I saw the conflicted look in her tear-reddened eyes as she considered the offer and her duties. She looked down and over to Katherine who was watching intently. There was a pleading look on the young lady’s face. Seeing her daughter’s wishes had clearly shifted Melissa towards my offer, so only moments later she nodded. "Let us get ready, and we will be off," she answered.  
  
  
  
Katherine was quite intrigued by the size of the courtyard when we arrived in the snowy northern kingdom I had selected. The guards recognized me and brought their halberds to attention.  
  
"They hold you in rather high esteem," Melissa noted.  
  
"Oh, it was nothing much. I saved the princess’ boyfriend earlier in this winter," I answered nonchalantly. "Oh, and there was that whole business with that duke’s invasion fleet, but I didn’t do much there, honestly…"  
  
The main doors opened before we got to them. I bowed respectfully to the figure that emerged, resplendent in a teal gown. "Your Majesty," I intoned. "May I introduce Her Majesty the Archon Melissa and her daughter, Princess Katherine? Archon, Princess, this is Her Majesty Queen Elsa of Arendelle."  
  
Katherine’s eyes widened. "The Snow Queen?", she asked, her wonder overwhelming whatever protocols and social rules exist for these kinds of things.  
  
Elsa laughed. "That is what they call me, yes. Welcome to Arendelle, Princess, Archon. Please, come in. We have some time before dinner is served. And you can tell me the reason for this visit…"  
  
  
  
  
Some time later, with dinner soon at hand, we were assembled in the Great Hall of the Palace. I stood by myself, allowing the others to mingle, and mingling they were. Janias, Camilla, and Melissa were chatting with Ana - sharing relationship advice from what I could tell - while Katherine gleefully played with Olaf in a snowdrift Elsa had made for her. The red in her eyes had subsided at this point and I could see that the visit was a success. Her wounded heart was mending.  
  
Elsa stepped up beside me. "Archon Melissa tells me that you saved Katherine and her brother from an assassin."  
  
"Well, yes. I was just at the right place and the right time." I smirked. "That seems to be the usual thing for me."  
  
"You do enjoy bringing your friends to visit us."  
  
"Your Majesty’s hospitality has endeared itself to me."  
  
"But this seems different than the last time."  
  
"Yes." I watched Katherine giggle and plow into a snow-drift after cartwheeling away from Olaf. "She’s much like you were, Elsa. She has a potential that can go either way."  
  
"And you’re keeping her on the right path?"  
  
"I’m only trying to give her another choice, an outlet for all of that energy and ambition."  
  
"I see." Elsa looked toward me. "I won’t criticize you for always wanting to help, Doctor, but sometimes people have to learn things their own way."  
  
I remained silent at that for a moment. I knew she was speaking from experience there. "I’m trying not to direct her, only to show her other possibilities. If I were to direct it then, yes, I would be in the wrong." I sighed. "She might make the wrong choice yet. I hope she won’t. I’ll do everything I can to show her alternative possibilities. But don’t worry, I’m not going to forcefully change her life."  
  
"I didn’t think so. But it feels better hearing you say it." After another moment of silence she asked, "Will you ever be bringing Korra back for a visit?" Elsa’s smile turned playful and a bit, dare I say it, wolfish?  
  
"I’m not sure. Arendelle may not survive a rematch between you two."  
  
"That, my dear Doctor, is what the ice castle is for."  
  
I held that mental image in my brain for a couple of moments before we both began to laugh.  
  
  
  
  
The TARDIS re-materialized in the throne room of the Lyran Commonwealth. My illustrious guests stepped out. "Will I get another ride?!", Katherine asked, filled with the impatience and exuberance of a child. "I want to meet Sir Harry!"  
  
"When you’re older," I said. Much older, in fact. I looked at Melissa. "And if your parents permit it, I shall take you somewhere on each birthday."  
  
"That is something Hanse and I will have to discuss," Melissa answered. "But you have proven yourself worthy of trust, Doctor. I’ll keep that in mind when we have that talk."  
  
"Thank you, Archon, that is the only thing I can rightly ask for." I nodded to both of them. "I hope the excursion has been a relief to you. I shall be going now."  
  
"First, Doctor..." Melissa looked down at her daughter, the meaningful look of a parent expecting their child to remember something socially important.  
  
Dutifully, Katherine hugged me around the waist. "Thank you, Doctor, for letting me ride your magic box."  
  
"You are welcome, dear Princess," I answered. "I will look forward to seeing you next year."  
  
  
  
  
We were back on the TARDIS and taking a break. I was reading another book on quantum effects, Janias was practicing her lightsaber technique, and Camilla was doing little of anything but sitting and enjoying a drink. "Katherine is quite a sweet little girl," she said, ending the silence.  
  
"Yes," I answered.  
  
"How much of it is you?"  
  
"None, hopefully," I replied. Granted, it was a bit of a naive one. One can hardly do what I was doing and not have an influence. "I’m just giving her another outlet. Otherwise she’d know nothing but the politics of the Inner Sphere, and that would lead her ambition toward wanting power. And then things would go wrong. Things might still go wrong. There’s no guarantee she won’t make the same choices even with my alternative."  
  
"And if she does, you’ll try to alter things to prevent her from making those choices?"  
  
It was a direct question, and a sharp one. I drew in a breath. "I hope I don’t," I finally said. "I have to have limits, Cami."  
  
"Yes, you do, but sometimes I think you’re starting to forget that. That whole business with the Air Nomads…"  
  
I sighed. "Yes. I suppose that toed a line. But we stayed on the right side of that line, Cami."  
  
"And with Jan and I here to watch you, you’ll continue to."  
  
As she said those words, two hourglasses returned to my memory. I could remember the bony hands of Death holding the Aurabesh-lettered timers and their synchronized sand flows. "Cami, thank you for that, but that won’t last forever."  
  
"We’re not leaving, Doctor," Cami insisted. "We’ve got nothing to go to."  
  
"That doesn’t mean you won’t." Or that they’d have a choice. We had done so many dangerous things…  
  
"And what would happen to you if you were alone?", Cami asked pointedly.  
  
I stared into space. "I don’t know," I finally answered. "I…" ...didn’t want to be alone and couldn’t bring myself to think about it. But I didn’t say that. It’d make them feel even more obligated.  
  
Because I knew the time would come when I’d have to let them go. Death had made that point clear.  
  
And as always happens in such circumstances, that time would come sooner than I had imagined...


End file.
